advantages of homeschooling this 2021

When we came back here in the Philippines on 2019, I was excited about the notion of my children going to school here in the Philippines. The experience of riding the school bus, having packed lunch and eating with their friends, group studying and a lot fun things to do with their friends. It was very exciting feeling.

However, reality bites, it was hard. During that time, I needed to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to prepare breakfast and pack lunch for my eldest daughter. My eldest needed to wake up at 4:30 in the morning because her school bus arrives at 5:30. It was that early because the traffic to her school is very heavy during rush hours. Imagine the adjustment.

My daughter was also shocked with the reality of having classmates that bullies one another. It was really different from what she experienced in Singapore. There was some moments when she was asking me if it is okay to move back to Singapore.

Year 2020, when we had the lockdown here in the Philippines, I saw the advantage of homeschooling. Though, that time, she was still in her regular class but done online. It was just like homeschool because I was the one who mostly discussed to her the lessons.

So this school year of 2020 to 2021, I took the chance of homeschooling my daughter. I got excited and so enthusiast to share my knowledge to my kid. It was adjustment too, but I would discuss this in my other blog.

Anyway, the school year is about to end and I am still planning for my daughter to still be in homeschool on the next school year.

Here are the advantages of homeschooling this year 2021.

• Cheaper – The price difference from her regular school is 78% lower. We don’t have to pay for the school bus either (Well, it is pandemic, so school bus is really not an option.. haha)
• Hands on Learning – As my daughter’s teacher, I somehow know my daughter and her capacity to learn. And so, I do the lesson plans strategically for her to learn it properly. If she will have questions, she could just ask me right away and we could discuss it.
• Proper Monitoring – Relating to hands on learning, I can monitor my daughter’s progress properly. I know what subject she is excelling and what are her weaknesses. What are the subjects that we should focus more.

• Stronger relationship – I can feel that studying is a good bonding time with my daughters. However, I am still instilling that I am the teacher during that time and I am not going to tolerate laziness or tantrums while studying. During the lessons, I do give the wisdom that I learnt from studying and experiences in life. Why education is very important in their lives. It is fun to be mentoring your own child and seeing how she is living with what you taught.
• Efficient Learning – As the lessons depend on the phasing of the student, sometimes, it becomes faster. I asked the homeschool coordinator why the lesson plans were a lot, but we finished it earlier. The coordinator said that the lesson plans are based on the regular school and sometimes, it is becoming slow because of the other students who needed to learn more about the subject. As it is only me and my daughter, we have ample time to discuss what are the lessons that she didn’t understand.
• Child becomes more independent – The situation in the Philippines’ education is different now, especially for the ones who are in regular school (but online). As it is hard to cope with the phasing of the lessons, some students tend to be dependent on their parents or their other classmates. This is somehow the same during normal school.
• Good mental health – As the children are learning based on their own phase, they are not pressured or stressed. They focus more on their interests and have a proper guidance to the subjects they are slightly interested. They could just rest and have a break when they don’t feel like studying on that time.

It is a little bit challenging for me, however, I would want to embrace the advantages and see if I could do this to my youngest or continue homeschooling my eldest until highschool.